County buying Bluffton building

Richard Brooks/Bluffton Today Beaufort County officials have decided to buy the Myrtle Park Professional Center building at 4819 Bluffton Parkway for offices south of the Broad River.

In the long run, buying is better than leasing for Beaufort County officials looking at Bluffton office space.

They’ve decided to spend $3.3 million for the Myrtle Park Professional Center, a building that has housed county offices since 2005.

The 22,000-square-foot building at 4819 Bluffton Parkway includes a sheriff’s office substation and magistrates courts as well as annexes of the auditor’s, assessor’s and treasurer’s offices. All provide services south of the Broad River so residents don’t have to drive 30 miles to the county seat in Beaufort.

The building also includes offices of the county Alcohol and Drug Abuse Department and space used by the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control.

The lease and taxes on the building cost the county about $295,000 a year.

“Staff compared the current lease costs versus purchase and the difference between those two cash flow streams saves us about 40 percent,” said Stu Rodman, the County Council Financial Committee chairman.

“We save significant money for the county,” Rodman said.

The council voted unanimously last week to issue $2.5 million in general obligation bond anticipation notes to buy the Myrtle Park building.

“It’s not a mill swap. We’re not increasing debt for operational purposes. It’s a zero sum for us,” said Councilman Brian Flewelling.

“The debt service (interest payment) will cost us slightly less than the lease,” said council chairman Weston Newton.

County Chief Financial Officer David Starkey said the purchase savings would be “totally realized” in eight years.

Council Steven Baer voted for the bond, but warned that debt millage “is slowly creeping up” in the county’s overall budget.

Starkey estimated the Myrtle Park debt would equal less than half a mill to county taxpayers.